Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-10-28
NOTED INDIAN NAMES.
Some Of Which Are not Indian at All, but
Only French CorruptionS.

Some Of Which Are not Indian at All, but
Only French Corruptions.
Golden Days: While the aborigines of
this country are fast disappearing AID
their final extinction is but a question of
time, it has been well said that they have
left TO US evidences of their former oc-
cuPancy of the country they inhabited
more permanent than monuments of
granite, and as lasting as the rocks and
mountains OF their native domain, in the
multitude of local names spilled to rivers
lakes, towns and other localities, the orr
gin and meaning of which is becoming
subject of interesting inquiry.
The popular idea is that these Indian
local names, or those taken to be such,
are genuine names, and possess some
appropriate Specification; but whoever
will take the trouble to investigate in this
regard will fine much in this notion that
is erroneCIs.
For instance the word Illinois passes
in this form as an Indian word-indeed
Is generally accepted as such from infor-
nation derived from these we have CON
sidered as authority on the subiSct-
while the fact is il Is one of those numer-
Gus local names brought to Us by the
French in corrupted form.
The word Illini (French photography
is an Indian word, that signifies man"
the terminal sound OILS is nu adjective ter
misation added by the French. This is
not the plural form of the WORD, and does
not as many have contended signify "men"
The plural form of this word signifying
men, is Il-lin-i-wug.
1t is word in the Algonquin language
in the dialect of tribe OF that group
who inhabited the country of the Miss
issippi in the vicinity of the Des MONIES
and Illinois rivers, who first became
known to the whites through Marquette,
who visited the village of the tribe in
1873, on the west side of the Mississippi
river, near the month of the Des Moines.
This word is said to be derived from
some circumstance in the course of an
interview between Marquette and the
principal chief OF this village, from what
was said by the chief in answer to inq uir-
les by Marquette as 10 who this people
were, saying they were perfect men,"
| and not beasts like the Iroquois, who
were then invading their country, COM
mitting unTercifal acts of barbarity upon
this peaceful people as they claimed to
be.
The word Sioux also passes for an
lhuidh WIN anu ic dLojl6I llSbduC6 VI II
so called Indian word signifyiug really
nothing in this form, for which the French
are also responsible.
This word comes from the terminal
syllable or sound in the term Nan da wis
sou, an Algonquin word signifying "ene-
my" name of reproach, which tribes of
this group gave to the Dakotas.
The early French explorers and adyen-
turerS having in ueneral INIT little no
education seldom troubled themselves
with nice distinctions in dealing with To-
cal names, and frequently abridged them
in this manner, and in referring to this
| people, instead of pronCuncing the whole
word NADIA sou, they caught up only
the terminal sound Sioux; SO that the
word Sioux, applied to this great nation
| of itself means nothing.
The name which they give to them
selves is Dakota, meaning 'leagued" or
united people,"
70 further show how our local Indian
| names are corrupted, the word Milwau-
kee mag be taken as an instance. The
tribe inhabiting the country in the vicin-
ity of that place had not in their dialect
the sound of |. This letter is a trasspo
sitiop of n in this word by the Frencb-a
practice common with them in reference
to Indian names, and is a corruption of
the original word. The proper word it is
said, is Ai-no au-ke.
According to general rule in dialects of
the Algonquin group, two vowel sounds
in word are never allowed to come to-
gether but the rule is to separate them
by consonant sound for the purpose of
euphony, generally by the sound of W, so
that properly, in speaking of the word
Min-no au-kee, the sound of " should
have been thrown in between the two
vowels, making it Min no. au -kee.
The meaning of this term is good
EARTH" or good country"-from 'Minno'
"good" Aukee "earth" or land. About
the FIRST mention of the word Milwaukee,
is by Hennepin in his account of La
Sales expedition through the Mississippi
valley, as the name of river, which he
calls the Mil lilo XII, which river he says
runs into Lake Michigan in the latitude
of 43 degrees.